Q: Does your company have to exist in order to get VC funding? I have an idea for a Web 2.0 company for which I have a business plan and a mockup, but I have not launched it to the public. Do VC firms even consider funding businesses that have not actually gone live?

A: (Jason) If you are an early-staged venture investor, you shouldn’t have a problem funding a company that doesn’t “exist” yet. Plenty of times we’ve invested in folks that have a small team a great idea and some PowerPoint slides. Upon investment your venture will need to be incorporated and will exist after that.

In 1994 I formed a non- profit organization called ” Keep The Dream Alive Community Development Corp.” We are completely grassroots insomuch that we have survived solely on contributions from those who invited our performing arts sector to do mini productions. The Finacial contributions were small, and no money was directly given to our organization. This is because our performers are starving artist, and needed the money for living expenses. We are very poor, and lack education; due to lack of funding we have not obtained a 501c(3). We simply cannot afford it. Nevertheless according to our records we have reached more than 15,000 students with our educational program. From 1994 to 2005; we put on assembly programs in the public school system. Due to the rise in the cost of living we were forced to discontinue our charity work for the public schools. How do I obtain funding so that I can upstart this program again?

Beginning in 2005, Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson, managing directors at Foundry Group, wrote a long series of blog posts describing all the parts of a typical venture capital Term Sheet: a document which outlines key financial and other terms of a proposed investment...